The Sedona Heritage Museum is hosting a free party so the entire community can participate in a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Museum’s opening back in 1998. The free festivities will be Saturday, May 19 from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Museum at 735 Jordan Road, in Uptown.
The Museum has been the community’s memory keeper for two decades and is a community learning and gathering place along with being a visitor attraction, contributing to Sedona’s reputation for quality, authentic experiences. This free event is planned to be a day for locals and visitors alike to experience the Museum inside and out.
Beginning at 10:30 a.m., Sedona’s Mayor Moriarty and other dignitaries will be on-hand for a brief program. Long-time volunteers who helped open the museum 20 years ago will be recognized, as well as Jordan family and other pioneer family members, and several people who were there in 1998 and on hand for the original ribbon-cutting. With help from those folks, there will be a re-enactment of the original ribbon cutting ceremony.
Immediately after the ribbon-cutting, and from 11:00 to 3:00 the activities take-off with LIVE music all day on two stages featuring easy listening, bluegrass and country/western groups. Featured will be the Rice Brothers who will provide background music and an enjoyable setting all day for relaxing, food and conversation on the second stage. On the main stage, Reno and Sheila McCormick, and “Harpy Trails" with Ken and Linda Mikell will entertain with sets that sandwich Michael Peach, Sedona’s cowboy poet. Peach will regale the audience with his original poems and stories about local historical figures and events. His presentations are long-time favorites at national parks and universities, and he has a regular show at the Museum.
But all that entertainment and the many hands-on activities planned means you’ll build up an appetite which you’ll be able to satisfy with a special treat of Dutch Oven fruit cobbler and biscuits. Bill Cowan, a long-time friend of the Museum will bring his Chuckwagon and be cooking and serving. Never had a Dutch oven treat? There’s nothing like the real thing!
But you can’t live on these treats alone and you won’t want to go home just because it is lunch time, so plan to stay all day and enjoy lunch from the BombAZ food truck. This local family operation will be on-site offering a great selection of southwestern food which you can enjoy in the Park while listening to the live music!
Interspersed throughout the day will be opportunities to learn about the Museum and about old-time crafts and skills. In the activity area, there will be educational presentations and hands-on demos of broom making, Native American ancient fire and sandal making skills, and talks and interactions with Arizona snakes and reptiles!
Watch for the postings of the day’s tour schedule. There will be scheduled demos of the Jordan’s 1940s mechanized apple sorting machine and you’ll see Mr. Jordan’s 1930s recently restored Farmall tractor run.
One of the Jordan girls who grew up in the historic house that is the centerpiece of the Museum will be giving guided tours and telling personal stories. And, there will be guided tours inside the Museum’s Archives and Collections Room. The Museum’s digital catalog database system will be running so you can try your hand at a search to view inside the collection of almost 40,000 cataloged items and photos. Docents will be around to answer your questions about most any Museum function, exhibit, program or service. A complete schedule will be posted of special demonstration and tour times.
For kids of ‘all ages’, there’ll be a “make & take” area where Museum volunteers will teach you how to make an old-fashioned cornhusk doll. A corn husk doll is a Native American toy, a doll made out of the dried leaves or "husk" of a corn cob. Making corn husk dolls was adopted by early European settlers in the U.S. and is now practiced as a link to the arts and crafts of our founders.
The Verde Valley Woodcarvers will be on hand teaching soap carving and enticing a new generation of potential carvers and whittlers.
Other surprises, free souvenirs, a gift basket drawing, and Gift Shop sale round out the list of the many ways attendees will be able to engage with Sedona’s hometown Museum. This FREE event is the Museum’s way of saying “Thank you” to the community, members, sponsors and friends for the FIRST 20 years! While looking forward to the next 20!!
The Sedona Heritage Museum is located in Jordan Historical Park at 735 Jordan Road, in Uptown Sedona. For more information, call 928-282-7038, or visit SedonaMuseum.org.
